Real Art is Never Finished
I'd like to consider myself an artist, at least in the sense that I enjoy creating art. Yet even after I am finished with a design, it still feels incomplete. I see work to be done and details to be perfected. Are there legitimate changes that still need to be made or is this struggle simply the nature of art? I wonder if that's how God, as an artist, feels about me and my life; pride in the completed work, yet seeing the improvement to come. More About Jesse.
Thoughts
New Ideas December 29, 2008
Working in the advertising and design industry makes me try and think up new ideas all of the time. The creative process is challenging and oftentimes hard to come up with ideas that are unique and relevant to the audience.
I noticed something this weekend as I was playing a Scrabble-type game with my family. As I tried to form my individual letters into words I would try to come up with long words at the beginning of the game. (You know, like “antidisestablishmentarianism”, just kidding) but I found that I sat there trying to think of long, complex words to no avail. When I would finally give up on that and focus on getting 3-4 letter words that I could put together quickly, I had much more success getting rid of my letters. My Scrabble board would spiral in complexity and often I could form shorter words into longer ones.
I think this is a good example of things I’ve found to be true about coming up with good ideas:
Just get started. I find that I rarely think of anything decent when I wait until I have a “good idea”. Instead, just get started, brainstorm everything: Even the silly, impossible, already-been-done ideas. Put time into your decision process, but don’t wait for the “perfect idea” to get started creating.
Ideas start as simple, and become complex. I am never able to come up with good complex ideas right off the bat. No one sat down and thought “I’m going to design a car, here’s how the carburetor is going to work…” Start with a simple idea and complex systems will evolve from it. Don’t jump to the specifics quite so soon.
Just some thoughts for you today the next time you have to brainstorm some new idea. I’m sure I’m not the first to come up with these things, but I decided to just post instead of overthinking. (That was the point, wasn’t it?)
Two New Albums Posted October 28, 2008
I posted some new photos in the Photography section earlier today, so I thought I should share it here since I doubt ya’ll check out the photo section all that often. (I should do a photo a day thing for a month or something, ooh good idea!)
The first album is from our trip to Chicago a couple of weekend’s ago. We had some fun running around downtown and Millennium Park and I was snapping photos the whole time. The second album is from the last couple of months, a camping trip with some friends, a trip to the Little Farmer, and Fall Conference with the Navs. I love fall and the colors it brings.
Attack of The Blur! October 21, 2008
I had a chance to work on a fun project for work over the last few months to promote the MN American Marketing Association (AMA) and their upcoming fall conference. We decided to create 5 super heros dubbed “The Focus 5″ that would represent the 5 different tracks that could be taken at the conference. We also decided that we just had to create a Microsite and videos to carry the idea.
For the videos, my creative director Paul Afong created and drew the characters, and then they were scanned and colored on the computer. Other members of the Morsekode team did the voiceovers. Finally, I took the drawings and animated parts of them in Flash. I also got to put together all of the sound effects and music to create the final soundtrack.
While we realize that we’re not exactly an animation house, we had a lot of fun with this project and are proud of what we accomplished. You can check out the videos below:
New MacBook Pro October 14, 2008
I normally don’t post too often about technology kinds of stuff, but since I mentioned it in an earlier post, Apple has finally released new laptops, and I’m stoked! Brand new design, sweet new trackpad, two graphics processors, what more could I ask for? It’s just so pretty.
I’ve been saving my pennies and dimes for a long time now and hope to get one of these suckers soon. Now the only question is whether I should with the way the economy is going…
Duty vs. Passion October 7, 2008
Jonny, Ross and I started a new book this week named “The Sacred Romance“ by Brent Curtis and John Eldredge. I actually read it a long time ago, but don’t remember much. We’ll be reading a couple of chapters every two weeks and talking about them. Should be a good time. Our discussion last night centered around Duty vs. Passion. In the first chapter they say:
“Frustrated by our heart’s continuing sabatage of a dutiful Christian life, some of us silence the voice by locking our heart away in the attic, feeding it only the bread and water of duty and obligation until it is almost dead…”
Now, I think all of us would agree that living a life passionate for Christ is always going to be better than living a life only of Christian duty and obligation. No arguments there. But my question is whether there is a place for duty and obligation, and unfriendly as those words sound?
As much as I would like to wake up every day feeling refreshed, renewed, and passionate to live my life glorifying God, the truth is that I don’t. I often wake up foggy-headed, cranky, and worried about the day ahead of me. It is often only duty that gets me into the Word and praying.
Frequentyly I find that once I have taken the time to sit down, focus on God, and read His Word, then my life comes into clearer focus and I can live more passionately for God.
I think the intentions of the authors are good, we should be striving to live for God passionately, but I wonder if it is accurate to be telling people that their whole life should be lived as one blazing ball of passionate energy for God? Is that even possible? Could we wear ourselves out?
Obviously, we’re only one chapter into the book, so I cannot say what exactly the authors are envisioning. What do you guys think, is duty as important as passion in the Christian life? Leave a comment if you’ve got something to say.
Is the Anticipation Always Better? September 9, 2008
Today was a sad day, Ok, not really that sad… Not like seriously sad, just kinda a little sad! Over the last few weeks I’ve been anticipating two things. They may be dorky, but it’s true, I’ve been looking forward to them.
The first, is a new MacBook Pro from Apple. I’m in the market for an Apple laptop. As a designer, it’d be really nice to have a Mac at home. Since it’s been widely rumored that there may be new ones coming this fall, I’m waiting before buying. Today they announced all sorts of new things including new iPod Nano’s, new iPod Touch’s, new iTunes, but no new MacBooks. Oh well, I guess I still have a bit more to save anyway.
The second, is an upcoming content management system that a lot of web professionals are into called Expression Engine 2.0. The company producing it has been saying all along that it will be out the summer of 2008. Well, it’s just about Fall now, and they finally announced that it has been officially delayed. Sadness.
So there you have it. Geeky stuff, but it’s part of my job as a web designer. What can you do?